Multi-objective optimal design of a solar absorption cooling and heating system under life-cycle uncertainties

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 92-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donghao Xu ◽  
Ming Qu ◽  
Yin Hang ◽  
Fu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Optimal Design ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling

Life Cycle Cost for a Solar Heating and Cooling System

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Hang ◽  
Ming Qu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Solar Heating ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling

Solar absorption cooling has been an intriguing research subject since 1970. However, it is not widely applied because the first cost of the system is high, the commercial hot water absorption chiller is not mature, the site demonstration and evaluation are not adequate and the price of conventional fossil energy sources is relatively low. This paper investigates the commercialization potentials of solar absorption cooling and solar heating system by comparing the life cycle cost between it and the conventional electrical chiller cooling and gas-fired boiler heating system. A computational model has been programmed in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to analyze the economical performances of the two systems applied to a dedicated building. The model considers the cost of capital, installation, operation and maintenance, the discount rate, the fuel prices, and the inflation rates. The result of the model indicated that given the present fuel cost, the solar absorption cooling and heating system is not as economic as the conventional system especially when its size is small. However, according to the sensitivity analysis carried, the solar absorption cooling and heating system could compete with the conventional cooling and heating system when the electricity price and fuel inflation increase.

Optimization Under Uncertainty: A Case Study of a Solar Absorption Cooling and Heating System for a Medium-Sized Office Building in Atlanta

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Hang ◽  
Ming Qu ◽  
Fu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Uncertainty Analysis ◽  
Heating System ◽  
System Optimization ◽  
Optimization Under Uncertainty ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling

Solar absorption cooling and heating (SACH) systems currently still stay at development and demonstration stage due to the nature of the complex system. It is critical for practitioners and engineers to have a correct and complete performance analyses and evaluation for SACH systems with respects of energy, economics, and environment. Optimization is necessarily involved to find the optimal system design by considering these three aspects. However, many assumptions made in the optimization are sensitive to the energy, economic, and environmental variations, and thus the optimization results will be affected. Therefore, the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis is important and necessary to make optimization robust. This paper uses a case study to explore the influence of the uncertainties on the SACH system optimization results. The case is a SACH system for a medium size office building in Atlanta. The one parameter at a time (OAT) sensitivity analysis method was applied firstly to determine the most sensitive inputs. Monte Carlo statistical method was utilized to generate the data sets for uncertainty analysis. The optimization problem under uncertainty was then formulated and solved. Due to the uncertainty associated with system inputs, the optimization solutions were found with certain types of the distributions. In addition, the scenario analysis on electricity price does not show large sensitivity to the objectives.

Maximizing the Life Cycle Primary Energy Savings of an Integrated Solar Absorption Cooling and Heating System for a Medium-Sized Office Building in Los Angeles, California

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Hang ◽  
Ming Qu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling ◽  
Experimental Trials

Buildings are responsible for 41% of the primary energy use in the United States. Due to the negative environmental impact from fossil fuel, people are trying to use renewable energy resources to provide energy to the buildings. Integrated solar absorption cooling and heating (SACH) technology can be one of the promising solutions to this issue. Due to the nature of solar energy, integrated SACH has many drawbacks, such as discontinuity of generation, thus backup system driven by fossil fuel should be included to the system configuration as well. Therefore, optimization is highly required during the design stage. This paper presents the development of a method to optimize an integrated SACH system. Regression analysis is used to identify the relationship between the life cycle primary energy savings (PES) and the system factors according to the data provided by experiments. In order to obtain an accurate model to estimate the problem using small number of experimental trials, the method of central composite design (CCD) from design of experiments (DE) is used as a key technique. The experimental trials are conducted in TRaNsient SYstems Simulation (TRNSYS). Finally, the optimization problem is formulated and solved by including the model as the objective function and the physical constraints of the system factors. A case study was conducted to apply this optimization method to the design of an integrated SACH system installed in a medium-sized office building in Los Angeles.

Experiment Based Performance Analysis of a Solar Absorption Cooling and Heating System in Carnegie Mellon University

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Qu ◽  
David H. Archer ◽  
Hongxi Yin
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Test System ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Absorption Chiller ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Solar Cooling ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling

The center for building performance and diagnostic (CBPD) at Carnegie Mellon University has successfully designed, installed and tested a solar cooling and heating system to assess the feasibility of solar cooling for small scale commercial buildings or residential buildings with aspects of technology and energy efficiency. This solar cooling and heating system is primarily comprised of parabolic trough solar collectors, PTSC’s and a 16 kW dual energy source double effect (2E) absorption chiller. The 2E absorption chiller driven by PTSCs was tested to produce chilled water or hot water throughout a number of clear days in summer and winter. The analyses of the experimental data defined the system performance: the efficiency of the solar collector, the capacity and COP of the chiller, and the heat transfer coefficient of the heat recovery exchanger, by using a statistical approach, based on the energy balance equation. In the solar cooling tests during July 2007 in Pittsburgh, PA, the average efficiency of PTSCs was 35% when they were operated at about 155°C for driving the 2E absorption chiller and the chiller was able to provide 8 to 14 kW cooling with COP in the range 1.0 to 1.2; the overall system efficiency is in the range 0.35 to 0.41. In the near future, this solar absorption cooling and heating test system and its operation will be integrated with the cooling, heating and ventilation units for long term utilization.

Solar Absorption Cooling and Heating System in the Intelligent Workplace

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Qu ◽  
David H. Archer ◽  
Hongxi Yin ◽  
Sophie Masson
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Absorption Chiller ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Trnsys Modeling ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling

A solar thermal driven absorption cooling and heating system has been installed in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robert L. Preger intelligent Workplace, the IW. The purpose of this solar installation is to investigate the technical and economic aspects of using high temperature solar thermal receivers driving a two stage absorption chiller to cool and heat a building space. The solar system consists primarily of 52 m2 of single-axis tracking parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSC), and a 16 kW double effect absorption chiller driven by either a fluid heated in solar receivers or by natural gas fuel. The receivers convert solar radiation to thermal energy in a heated fluid; the chiller then uses this energy in summer to generate chilled water. In winter, the thermal energy is directly used for heating. A performance analysis was carried out to estimate the conversion efficiency of the PTSC based on mass and energy balances and heat transfer computations programmed in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The performance of the overall solar cooling and heating for the IW has been programmed in TRNSYS modeling system. This solar energy system has been estimated to provide 38–50% of the cooling and 9–30% of heating energy depending upon orientation, insulation and storage capacity for 245 m2 of space in the IW. Experimental data are now being collected and will be used for validating the solar collector model. The solar system model will be used in interpreting the data yet to be obtained on the system performance. The primary purpose of this research program is the development of systems which reduce the energy requirements for the operation of buildings by a factor of two or greater, and the provision of techniques and tools for the design and evaluation of such systems.

The study of solar absorption air-conditioning systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Mittal ◽  
KS Kasana ◽  
NS Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Lithium Bromide ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Air Conditioning System ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Absorption Cooling ◽  
Solar Powered ◽  
Solar Absorption Cooling ◽  
Air Conditioning Systems

An air-conditioning system utilizing solar energy would generally be more efficient, cost wise, if it was used to provide both heating and cooling requirements in the building it serves. Various solar powered heating systems have been tested extensively, but solar powered air conditioning systems have received very little attention. Solar powered absorption cooling systems can serve both heating and cooling requirements in the building it serves. Many researchers have studied the solar absorption air conditioning system in order to make it economically and technically viable. But still, much more research in this area is needed. This paper will help many researchers working in this area and provide them with fundamental knowledge on absorption systems, and a detailed review on the past efforts in the field of solar absorption cooling systems with the absorption pair of lithium-bromide and water. This knowledge will help them to start the parametric study in order to investigate the influence of key parameters on the overall system performance.

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